How Detroit can turn a burgeoning tech scene into a Silicon Valley rival

Stateside’s conversation with Billy Strawter of the digital marketing firm, MILO, and Jerry Davis, the associate dean for business and impact at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

Detroit could be the next Silicon Valley, according to some in the business community.

Credit Mike Fritcher / FLICKR - HTTP://J.MP/1SPGCL0

If you’ve ever been to the Detroit Institute of Arts, you’ve probably seen the Diego Rivera murals that fill the museum’s courtyard.

They capture a city that was once an industrial hub with behemoth steel machines and men on assembly lines.

Today, however, Detroit is trying to become a different kind of hub: a tech hub.

With its past as an automotive powerhouse, some in the city are betting that the Motor City can become a rival to that tech giant, Silicon Valley.

Billy Strawter, founder of the digital marketing firm MILO, and Jerry Davis, associate dean for business and impact at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, joined Stateside to talk to us about what the future of tech will look like in Detroit.

Listen above to hear about how Detroit is beginning to lay the foundation for a high-tech economy.

The economy that today’s students will soon enter is rapidly changing. That’s the reality that fueled the creation of a recent report from Michigan Future, Inc., a non-partisan think tank. The report outlines major issues and suggestions for how to help graduates thrive in a new economy that requires adapting to changing technology throughout their careers.

Patrick Cooney, a policy associate at Michigan Future, Inc., joined Stateside to discuss the report’s contents.